Project description

Council is planning to seal the entire 3.3km length of Huxtable Road in Pakenham Upper.

Works will include:

• Road pavement construction
• Spray sealing the entire 3.3km length of road
• Drainage works
• Signage
• Line marking

Funding

Cardinia Shire Council has invested $25 million into the Strategic Sealed Roads Project.

The Huxtable Road project is funded through the Australian Government’s Roads to Recovery fund.

Progress update

Construction update

Detailed designs are now being prepared for Huxtable Road.

Construction is expected to start by the end of 2025 and be completed by April 2026, conditions permitting.

Findings from planning and environmental investigations

Council completed extensive environmental, heritage and cultural investigations to determine how best to design and construct the road.

The completed investigations have identified significant challenges and constraints for the project, which include:

• uncovering the presence of federal and state protected fauna and flora species, which requires an extensive permit process for upgrades to be completed around the area.
• the need for extensive vegetation removal caused by the significant tree and flora root system along the roadside.
• expensive vegetation offset costs from the proposed vegetation removal
• extensive engineering works required for the topography

Council has now worked through the complexities to find an alternative solution that remains within budget and has minimised the environmental impact and lowered vegetation offsets.

The proposed scope of works now includes:

• spray sealing the unsealed length of Huxtable Road at its existing width
• incorporating additional widenings and 0.5m shoulders into the road where possible.
• No tree or minimal vegetation removal along the roadside

Although Council had aimed to increase the road width along its entirety, a compromise has been achieved, which has enabled the road to still be upgraded without encroaching onto protected vegetation, tree roots, disturbing habitats.

Speed concerns

Council is aware of the ongoing concerns regarding the speed limit along Huxtable Road.

Council is advocating on the community’s behalf to have the Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) lower the speed along Huxtable Rd.

Initial discussions have already started with DTP and additional traffic data and monitoring is now required to support this request once construction is complete.

Council will continue to work closely with DTP and will provide more information when available.